Bala Beach Resort Construction Update - 2 July 2010

View From Floor 2, Building 2, Studio Apartment
Land Side (Back) of Buildings

View from Upper floor of Building 1

Beginnings of Pool

Finished End Facing Maria Chiquita, Building One - Ready to Paint

Building One - July 2, 2010

Hallway Access to Apartments

Balconies (below)
Buildings One and Two Bala Beach Resort - 02 July , 2010

Bala Beach Resort

Windows are being installed. Building 1 is up to the top floor and Building two is not far behind. I spent a good two hours walking through the project and was able to see the apartments roughed out from the inside. Although the crew fluctuates according to the current project needs, there were around 50 men working on the day I visited.

The plan at this point, according to one of the developers, is to build a restaurant between the apartments and the beach. It will be open to the public as well as to guests at the resort. The administrative offices for on-site management will also be located there. This will help to insure that the public will be exposed to the project and sales will continue for future buildings.

Views from all the apartment balconies I visited were good. Even the lowest floors could see the beach area. The upper floors also can see the sea in the direction of Colon, with ships lined up to enter the canal.

Plumbing and electrical is roughed in so now it is pretty easy to imagine how each apartment will be laid out. The builders have taken great care to not disturb the beach or forest as a result of construction and the safety notices were also impressive.

The exterior concrete wall on the Maria Chiquita end of building one has a nice smooth top coat and gives a good idea of how the exterior will look prior to painting. And there was even some painting being done while I was there.

Obviously, a great deal of finishing remains and this takes time. However, weather and work crew size etc. can have a great effect on speed of progress. I am satisfied that the project is moving along at a good pace and look forward to the day the buildings ae ready for occupancy.

My thanks to the staff at Bala Beach Resort for granting me access to take pictures. Enjoy these pictures and feel free to check out a couple short videos posted at YouTube.com. Just search Bala Beach and look for the most recent posts.

July 2010 Construction Update

Greetings From Panama
I will be visiting the construction site tomorrow and hope to post up-to-date photos over the weekend. Stay tuned for the latest progress and plans at Bala Beach Resort.

1st 2010 Construction Update

Bala Beach Resort Construction Update.

Buildings one and two continue to rise. Soon the structures will have reached the top floors and the process of interior finishing will commence. The work crew has increased considerably. All this and recent pictures are currently available for viewing on the blog portion of the official resort website at www.balabeach.com/

November Construction Update at Bala Beach Resort

This post is courtesy of Mark, a Bala Beach condo owner:

On November 13th, 2009, I visited the construction site of the Bala Beach Resort. Building one has 4 1/2 floors completed, building two has 3 levels completed and building three has only foundation work done. As I was told at the Bala Office in Panama City - construction of building 3 is frozen now until at least 80% of the units are sold - currently there are only about 60% units sold. Phase one is scheduled to be completed in the 3rd quarter of 2010 (from words of one of the co-owners responsible for the construction), and will include Buildings 1 and 2, one pool, a beach with white sand and beach service, and a temporary open parking lot. There will be no direct car access to the buildings for now, which is rather a short walk from this parking lot. the second phase will include buildings 3 and 4 and one additional pool (the timeline is not confirmed yet and is based on the selling progress). The tall building by the beach, a restaurant, and the fitness center will be built no earlier than 2 years from now. A 4-5 star hotel (the chain will be picked later when the construction progress is more visible and potential value increases) will be built later along with the second restaurant, a spa, a grocery store and a permanent multistory garage with valet parking. the last phase will include 3-4 other buildings and multiple townhouses. The rental pool initially will be handled by a rent management company picked by Bala at and later by the hotel (when it is built). they admitted that construction of buildings 3 and 4 will create some inconveniences for residents of buildings 1 and 2, but promised to minimize them.

My overall impression after visiting the Bala office in Panama City was positive due to their willingness to answer questions that I had. They truly believe in the final success of this project despite a current overall real estate market slump in the country and in Panama City especially. I saw several half- built high-rise buildings whose construction has frozen in Panama City. I asked them to publish and email Bala Beach newsletters more frequently.

the weather was rainy on the day of my visit to the construction site, so I made all pictures from the car. Despite the rain, I counted 30-35 construction workers on the site. security allowed me to enter the construction site as they received an advanced call from the Bala office in Panama City about me coming there. I was accompanied in my car by a local construction manager on the site.

Building 1

Building 1

Building 1

Building 2

Building 2


Buildings 1 and 2 back to back
Some beach work has already begun

The beach is promised to be picturesque

A sign in Spanish - "Keep the beach clean"

September Construction Update

Construction at Bala Beach Resort

On 18 September, 2009, I visited the constructin site at Maria Chiquita, Panama for the Bala Beach Resort. As you will see in the pictures, all of the first 3 buildings are under construction. The contractor has excellent security and thanks to the good people at the Bala office, I was able to enter the site to get some good pictures of the construction action.

The employee housing is completed and provides for a good number of workers to live right on site. The substantial excavation rises up just behind the staging area. This is where buildings one, two, and three are taking form.

Building one has the foundation completed, the basement poured and was already going up from level one to level 2. Concrete trucks were frequent visitors, bring loads of concrete for the columns to suppor the next floor. Here are pictures of building one:

Building 2 has the foundation finished. and the basement in and the ground floor in final stages, preparing to move up to the next floor. Men were working on all three buildings at the same time. While concrete was being used only on building one while I was there, forms were being prepared in buildings 2 and three for concrete. The number of people working onsite looked to be around 60.

Here are pictures of building 2, some show buildings 3 and 1 as well:

In the picture to the right, you can see building 2, with the rebar columns ready to go up to the next floor. In the background is building 3.

The foundation is a very slow and laborious process. Building the structure above ground proceeds quickly and it is exciting to see this stage of construction.

Building 3 has the foundation in. The basement is underconstruction and once, the concrete has hardened, preparations will be made to go up from ground level.

This shows building 2, with building 3 in the background. Building 3 is near the property boundary and should afford some excellent views of ships waiting to enter the canal at Colon from upper floors.

More pictures of building 3 below:

I took video as well. If I can figure out how to edit it and post it, I will. The video shows the views from the 1st floor (the floor above ground level) in building 1 as well as considerable footage of the other two buildings. Check back in October to see this video and thanks for looking.

July Construction Update !

Check out the lastest July 2009 construction update from Bala Beach Resort. We can finally see the first building rise above ground level. My experience watching the construction of a highrise tower in Panama City was that the foundation seemed to take forever. Once the building started to climb skyward, construction proceeded rapidly. It seemed to slow again when interior finishing was underway. Of course, weather, crew size, equipment and access to building supplies as well as strikes, holidays etc, all play their part.

This video is encouraging. You can also begin to get an idea of the distance to the beach and views from ground level in a couple of the images:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eW9NXxPIU8Q

Panama - Colon Highway

Getting to Bala Beach Resort is much easier now.

Here is a recently posted video on YouTube (in spanish) showing more views of the new link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kzdomz9n8Kc